Mobile home parks and eviction: A look at regulations in Texas and Florida

A new study offers insights on how states can assist mobile home residents facing eviction, but notes that even helpful policies can have unintended consequences.

The issue: Some 18 million people live in mobile homes, a major source of unsubsidized, affordable housing in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While a lot of residents own their homes, many don’t own the land under them. About a third of mobile homes are located on leased lots within mobile home parks. And when those parks are sold or otherwise closed, residents can be evicted, oftentimes with little warning. Hundreds or thousands of people can be evicted at once.

State laws vary considerably in the number and types of protections they offer residents of mobile homes, which also are called manufactured homes or trailers. One of the greatest dilemmas for these residents is that when forced to leave, they must move their families and personal belongings as well as pay to move their homes, an expensive service. Sometimes, mobile homes are too old or damaged to be moved and, in those cases, residents have no choice but to leave behind what may be their greatest financial asset.

No one tracks mobile home park closures or evictions. And there is limited published research on mobile home residents and the public policies that affect them. But a new study of how two key states handle mobile home park closings provides important insights.

Study summary: Esther Sullivan, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado Denver, conducted an ethnographic study of how mobile home park closures impact residents. She examined how the two states with the greatest number of mobile home residents – Texas and Florida — differ in the protections they offer individuals. Sullivan also compared the states’ responses to the mass eviction of residents from multiple mobile home parks over a two-year period.

Key takeaways:

California has the highest number of mobile home parks (an estimated 4,857) followed by Florida (an estimated 4,207) and Texas (an estimated 4,073). Other states with large numbers of mobile home parks are North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia and Kentucky.

About 41 percent of all people who live in mobile homes are age 55 and older. Almost one-fifth live in poverty. About 7 percent are not U.S. citizens.

Florida has what is considered a “model” regulation for protecting mobile home park residents. The state helps residents relocate, paying part of the cost of the move. But the policy has created a cottage industry of mobile home relocation services, resulting in “a prolonged and confusing relocation process in which Florida residents felt increasingly bewildered, helpless, and reliant on the private actors profiting off the disposal, relocation, and reinstallation of their homes.”